James

• Bryana Lynch, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2011

Katherine sat in her bosses’ office, bewildered to this man’s obsession with the colour pink. Pink walls, pink pens, pink photo frames. Pink everything.
Katherine’s confusion was interrupted by her boss barging in with Katherine’s manuscript in his hand.
“Katherine! Sweetheart! You are more than talented! You’re exquisite! However did you create this fabulous ending?!” he asked.
“Well Mr Clayden…”
Katherine relived the night before. The emotions, the stress, the feeling of near failure.
It was storming. Heavily.
It’d been like this ever since James, the homeless boy and subject of Katherine’s novel, had died. Katherine had known him for years.
‘James was intoxicated, his judgment impaired..’ Katherine typed, ‘He never expected to die that night.” Although, Katherine knew she was wrong.
Katherine deleted the sentence.
Tired and lacking energy, she gathered her thoughts.
Katherine felt a presence. As if someone watching her.
She slowly turned around. Lightning and thunder struck. She screamed.
Her neighbour knocked on the wall,
“You alright!?” he yelled.
“Yeah!” Katherine replied.
On her laptop, she noticed a new sentence, she swore she didn’t type.
It was now, being told by James.
“Yes, I was shot.. but there was a motive.” Katherine read aloud.
She was interrupted by her neighbour again.
“You sure you’re ok?!” he called.
“I’M FINE.” She yelled frustrated.
That was it. Katherine needed inspiration. She snatched a bottle of wine from her refrigerator. Just as she went to sip it, there was a knock at her door.
Katherine, assuming it was her neighbour again, yelled
“I’M FI..” She peered through her door eyepiece, at a floating sign saying,
‘Relax, your work is now mine.’
“Who is this!?..” Katherine swung her door open.
No one was there.
She slammed her door locked, sat back her laptop and sipped her glass of wine.
“Wait,” Katherine whispered. “I didn’t pour that..” She slowly glanced
towards her kitchen bench. Surely enough, a glassful was gone from her wine bottle. Katherine, quickly got up to put the bottle away. Thunder struck.
Katherine dropped the wine.
A loud slamming began to come from Katherine’s laptop. Scared, she slowly made her way towards it. Someone was typing.
She mumbled gibberish as she tried to keep up with the brilliance pouring onto her computer screen.
“I never had love in my life, no relationships, no family. Although, no-one ever ‘needs’ love. They simply desire it.”
“Amazing.” Katherine whispered.
The computer ceased.
Katherine read the final sentences.
“I wasn’t willing to make anything with my life. So I cheated Smokey, knowing that he’d literally kill me if he was cheated.
And he shot me. That’s that.”

Back in Mr Clayden’s office, Katherine’s eyes watered.
James was that unhappy,
He'd planned his own murder. She could never imagine feeling that way.
“Katherine, my coffees getting cold sweetheart. Tell me, how did you uncover the raw emotion of ‘James’?” Mr Clayden asked.
“He helped me, Mr Clayden.” Katherine said, gathering her things.
“But he’s gone?” He replied confused.
Katherine smiled.
“Not completely.” She whispered.